Will not take less than Rs 200/qtl: Tikait

The sugarcane growers of Uttar Pradesh have declined the state government’s offer of selling their produce at Rs 160-170 a quintal, a rate less than what their counterparts in Uttarakhand are getting.

 

“The agitating cane growers would not sell their produce below the rate Uttarakhand cane growers are taking,” Bharatiya Kisan Union President Mahindra Singh Tikait yesterday here said. “The cane growers in Uttarakhand are getting over Rs 200 per quintal but in Uttar Pradesh the state government is acting as a puppet in the hands of the mill owners and has fixed a low rate,” he alleged.

 

The state government had announced a state advisory price between Rs 160 to Rs 170 a quintal, while on the behest of the UP government Sugar Mills Association had already announced to pay an incentive of Rs 15 a quintal over SAP. Meanwhile, RLD President Chowdhary Ajit Singh has threatened to continue the farmers agitation if the sugar mills fail to resolve the matter within two days.